Dundalk schoolteacher Michael has become an elite coach in the pursuit of Kate’s dreams
Kate O’Connor with her father and coach Michael upon their arrival at Dublin Airport after this year’s World Indoor Athletics Championships in China. Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Not long after the Olympics in Paris, Kate O’Connor pulled up a chair at the kitchen table in her family home in Dundalk alongside her dad, Michael, who has steered her career for the past 15 years. Once they’d dissected the 2024 season, stripping it to the bone for useful lessons, they started planning for 2025.
Kate outlined her goals and, given how high the bar was set, she knew it’d require as much from her dad as herself. “She says, ‘Do you think you can deliver this?’” recalls Michael. “The conversation moved from there. That’s challenging. I haven’t come from knowing everything and you [wonder], ‘Can I deliver here?’ There’s a lot of responsibility that goes with that. You’re carrying people’s dreams.”